50 Shades of Renters Blues

As many of you know, Aaron and I do not have very good luck with the places we rent.
The first place we lived in... problems with our neighbors.
The second place... problems with our leaking shower.
And now in London, we've experienced a lot of problems because we moved into a flat that had just been renovated. Problems like the washing machine not being hooked up properly, our oven setting off the smoke alarm, our heating unexpectedly shutting down in winter, our lights being difficult to change, and now, our leaking shower.

I think our landlord here hates me, but it's not like I really enjoy calling her with all these problems.

I cannot wait to buy a house and deck it out in Whamley, Pinterest-inspired decor (because that's what you actually do when you own a house, right?) To me, owning a house means feeling settled. It's this "I can start a garden, paint the wall whatever color we want, have a dog/pig if we like, select the furniture to the space (and not the other way around)" lifestyle that I aspire to. I blame Pinterest, Zillow and Martha Stewart.

But... then again, if we owned a place and had all these problems, it wouldn't be as easy as just calling one person and it would be coming out of our pocket. So maybe the grass isn't always greener on an owned front lawn? : )